During a relay race last week, students had to identify different bicycle parts as someone from the Community Cycling Center looked on.

It wasn't always easy. One student who had to locate the "crank arms" instead pointed to the frame. Then the seat post. Stem. Headset. The adult standing by didn't give the answer, forcing the student's team to figure it out.

By the time bike club ends later this month, these fourth- and fifth-graders won't just understand how every bicycle part works but how to patch a tire, check brakes, wear a helmet properly and signal as they're riding in traffic.

Before bike club, they didn't even own a bike. Often it's because of the expense or that their families don't do much biking.

The cycling center runs the program through a partnership with the Rigler Sun School, which has more than 75 percent Latino, African American, Asian or Native American students. The center received $69,000 this school year from the Portland Children's Levy for after-school bike safety clubs at five North and Northeast schools for students in grades four through six. The levy is a city program that distributes about $12 million each year to more than 70 local nonprofits in early childhood, after school, mentoring, child abuse prevention and intervention as well as foster care.

You never forget how to ride once you learn, but it can still be intimidating to make bicycling a regular part of your life, especially if few people in your neighborhood or family do much of it.

How do you ride in traffic? What are the rules?

The cycling center works to remove any cultural and socioeconomic barriers in part by providing each student with a refurbished used bike, a helmet, lock, tire repair kit and a wealth of knowledge. The city is working to lift other barriers, too, by building the cycle track on Northeast Cully Boulevard and the greenway near Rigler that starts at North Vancouver Avenue and extends out to Northeast 72nd Avenue.

Every Tuesday and Thursday, after learning something new, the bike club rides together around Rigler to explore these and other bicycle-friendly routes. Manuel Osuna, 11, is a fifth-grader whose family doesn't own bikes. He heard about the club from a friend and is one of the more enthusiastic members. He plans to use his new bike to spend more time at Fernhill Park, 20 blocks away from his family's home. A healthy use of time. It's one of the reasons the Community Cycling Center does what it does.

"We see the bike as a tool of empowerment," said Kim Whitney, youth program manager for the Community Cycling Center. "To get around places, to make healthy choices."

The six-week bike clubs generally have eight to 14 students who must commit to attending 10 of the 12 after-school meetings. And they must earn things such as helmets and tire repair kits by participating in the activities, said Whitney.

Which are fun. To learn tire repair, instructor David Kurushima donned a helmet to become the "wheel remover robot" who needed step-by-step instruction on what to do. The students took turns telling him how to turn his bike over, release the brakes, take off the chain and remove the tube with tire levers.

If they weren't clear, the robot did something nutty. Each student then got a punctured tire tube and had to find and repair the hole with their individual kit. Manuel then led the bike safety check.

Is your backpack on your back with the straps up? Are your shoelaces tied? Brakes working? ...